Trousers-leg guard



No. 623,599. Patented Apr, 25, I899. J. H. GIFFORD.

TROUSERS LEG GUARD.

' (Application filed Jan. 8, 1898.) (No Model.)

A tLorneys NORRIS wzrzns 00, FHOTO L|YNO.. WASHINGTON. 04 c the guard.

Urrn STATES ATENT Enron.

JOHN H. GIFFORD, OF FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS.

TROUSERS-LEG GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,599, dated April 25, 1899.

Application filed January 3, 1 89 8.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. GIFFORD, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trousers-Leg Guards; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to that class of devices made for the purpose of keeping the lower ends of the trousers-legs out of the way in riding a bicycle and in proper shape at other times.

It is fully explained and illustrated in this specification and the accompanying drawlugs.

. Figure 1 represents an outside elevation of Fig. 2 shows a horizontal section of the guard, taken lengthwise on line 5c 00 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the leg and trousers-leg, with a top view of the guard in position for use. Fig. 4 shows the position of the guards when put on the legs in position to be used.

This invention is an improvement on the United States Patent No. 562,150, bearing date June 16, 1896, of which I am the owner.

The construction and application are as follows:

A is a narrow strip of sheet metal having a tongue at at each end, made, preferably, by punching out a portion of the metal and leaving the tongue in the opening, attached by one end to the strip. Each tongue is bent into a double curve, so that a cord 19 can be easily drawn in from the free end and held there by the pressure of the tongue. Two more tongues n n are made in the strip A a little farther in from the end than the tongues a a, with their free ends toward the end of the strip. The tongues 01 have sharp points that will readily enter the cloth of the trousers-legs and are made in the same way by punching them out of the strip A, but on the opposite side to the tongues a a, which come on what is the inner side of the strip when Serial No. 665,320- (No model.)

in both side and front positions in Fig. 3.

. The mode of applying the guard for use is this: One of the tongues n is entered into the inner thickness of the fold of the cloth at the end-of the trousers-leg j, and the cloth on I that side is stretched a little and caught 011 the tongue n at the other end of the strip, so that the cloth between the tongues n 'n will be held close to the strip which lies against the inside of the ankle at d. One end of the cord 1) is slipped in under one of the tongues a, and the cord 17 is carried around on the outer side of the ankle at h and the free end slipped under the tongue a in the other end of the strip A. The cord .may be connected with the shoe by catching the clasping device s into the shoe-lacing over the instep. In this Way the trousers-leg j will be held close to the ankle on the inner side at d and out of the way of the mechanism of the Wheel and will keep its natural shape and appearance. The great advantage of this way of holding the cloth to the guard over the clips used in the patent before mentioned is that it avoids the injury to the lower edge of the trousers-leg that the clips make both by wearing places and in light-colored cloth the liability to leave marks or stains. They also make it possible to produce the guards at a lower cost. The tongues an do not come through the outer fold-of the cloth at the end of the trousers-leg, as it is only necessary to enter the inner fold to hold the trousers-leg close to the inner side of the ankle. The

guard is thus entirely concealed from observation.

Having thus described my improvement, I claim as my invention In a trousers-leg guard, a curved strip of metal having a spring-tongue at each end and a cord or wire to detachably connect the two my hand This 30th day of December, A. D. 1897.

JOHN H. GIFFORD.

In presence of-- M. E. LAWTON, BENJ. ARNOLD. 

